Printing press control



Jan. 129, 1935.. J, SINTON 19%,533

PRINTING PRESS CONTROL Filed Feb. 2, 1934 M I SnLentIr Jab/V SW/ZVV Giiorncu Patented Jan. 29, 1935 UNITED STATES? My. invention relates to a new and useful improvement. in printing presses, particularly rotary printing presses of the type in which the this type, the newspaper stock is received inthe my form -of, rolls of paper in which a single sheet of paper is woundon a suitable core, anda roll of this character isplaced upona suitable expander onthe printing press from whence. it is fedin a generally continuous fashion through 15. the various feedrolls and other rotaryprinting mechanism of the-printing press in a generally continuous manner, until 'the paper supply of the 'particular roll is nearly exhausted. Shortly before the paper supply on a roll is completely exhausted, the machine mustbe stopped and a fresh roll of paper put in place of .the nearlyconsumed roll of paper. In making this change, theanearly consumed roll. of paperislremoved from the machine, with a suitable length of loose end-of paper'leftbehind in the machine, and to this-loose end of paper; already threaded through the-press, the-lead-in end of the fresh roll of paper is adhesively secured. .This connection (generally adhesively) between the last portion ofone roll andthe flead-in end of the'fresh rolhisnecessary in order to save the laborious andtime-consumingtask of threading the paper web freshly through the many rolls of the printing press with each change of paper rolls, or with each fresh paper roll. Thus, the lead -in end of. the fresh roll of paper, being secured'to the disappearing end ofthe previous paper supply, permits the new paper to be drawn right through the machine without being manually 40: threaded through the machine as is necessary with the first roll, or as may be necessary if the web of paper accidentally breaks, so that it runs out of the machine before another lead-in end can be attached to it.,

presses of this character, the electric motor which drives the'printing press is controlled by the op-- PAT E'NT 1,989,531 I v f Y i PRINTING Prt'Ess ooN'r toI;

John SintomPhiladelphia, Pa. Application February 2, 1934, Serial No. 769,492-

In the conventional construction of printing be understood that the zvarious instrumentalities tablish electrical connection to theactuating coils; of the relay switch, and takerelatively little our-1 rent.) x I In, printing. press practice, it has generally been; the custom for the operator visually, toggauge a (as nearly as he could) "the amountpf pap er.'-r( e maining on the roll of paper as the roll was nearly consumed, or toestimate su uy; about. when the machine should be stoppedin ,order; that the paper may not run out of, the machinaz 19;; because, as stated above, if the paper' was qper mitted to run outof the'machine, the fresh; roll, of paper mustbe threaded throughthe entire matchine at the expense of much labor andtime- As the human judgment in this matter" could not. .be. quite accurate, it has always been the custom -toleave on the'core of thepaperrolla substanti l? amount of paperwhen'makingthe fcha nge-over y from one roll of paper to-the next ro11, i rder:; to assure thatthe paper would not runoutof the machine. Because of this, a substantial amount of paper, possibly four to -seven pounds (more or less) is generally left on, thers-core of each roll when it is discarded, andthe paper thus left on the core is wasted.

. The object of my presentinvention, istoelimia nate this waste of paper to a substantial extent,

v if not completely, by, eliminating the human judga I roll and adapted to actuate said electricsw-itch in relation to-the-diameter of thepaper roll; thereby first, to-v fslow-down :the machine .;when ap-j proaching the end of the paper,=and,then t'ostop the machine completelyjust :before the last bit of paper has been unwoundifrom the-jcore. My invention iurtherqconsists ofother novel features .of construction :which. will appear. more fully from the following-detailed description. M1;

For the purposeofr illustrating my invention, :1 have shown in the accompanying drawing, one. form thereof which'is at present preferred'byme; since the samehas been foundin practice .toygiye satisfactory andreliableresults, although it-is,.to

of which my invention consists can be variously arranged and organized and that my invention is not limited to the precise arrangement and organization of the instrumentalities as herein shown and described.

Referring to the drawing in which like reference characters indicate like parts:

Figure 1 represents a schematic top plan view of the device of my presentinvention in relation to the paper roll mounted on a' rotary printing press of the character stated.

Figure 2 represents a schematic front elevational view of the same.

According to my present invention, I provide a movable electrical contactor or band 3, formed of any suitable conducting material, such as metal, which is mounted upon any suitable insu= lating member such as the insulating disc'4.'

The insulating disc 4 is preferably adjustably mounted upon a shaft 5 or the like, which in turn is suitably journalled, as for instance, in bearing pedestals or brackets 6 and '7 carried uponany suitable structural member or supporting member 8, which may be any part of the frame work of the printing press or may be any other suitable supporting member which is here indicated in a generally upright position. In order that the disc 4 and the contactor strip or band 3 may be adjust-- able in relation to the shaft 5, said disc '4 is loosely or rotatably mounted on the shaft 5, while an auxiliary disc 9, which may be a metallic disc having a suitable hub 10, is fixedly secured to the shaft 5 by a pin 11 or any other suitable locking 7 means, such as a key or set screw or the like. The 35 disc 9 is'provided with an arcuate slot 12 of suitable extent, through which a set screw 13 is ex-' tended.- The set screw 13 is threaded into a suitable threaded opening in the disc 4, so that upon tightening the screw 13, the disc 4 will be locked in any pre-determined'position (within the range of adjustment permitted by the slot).

Upon the shaft 5, a follower arm 14 is secured, preferably in falongitudinal adjustable manner. Thus, a portion of the shaft may be formed with a generally square or other polygonal cross-section as indicated at 15, with the end of the lever provided with a corresponding opening, and by means of the set screw 16 through which the lever may be locked in any position longitudinally. The end of the lever is adapted to contact the periphery 17 of the paper roll 18, either directly or through any suitable follower roller 19, pivotallysupported upon the lever by means of the pivot 20, whereby the friction between the lever and the paper roll may be reduced; To the shaft 5, a tension lever or other tension-means 21 is also secured by means of suitable pin, set screw, or the like, 22, to which either a spring or a weight 23 is attached, of suflicient strength or of sufficient weight if to overbalance the weight of the lever 14 to a suitable extent, thereby yieldably or resiliently to maintain the follower-end of the lever 14 in operative relation'to the constantly changing periphery 1'7 of the paper roll 18. Upon anysuitable supporting structure (not shown in the drawing) suitable 'electriccontact shoes 24, 25 and 26 are carried with their contact portions (24-a, 25-a and 26a) in yielding contact or in spring-pressed contact with the periphery of the disc 4. The contact 24 serves as a feeder contact through which the continuous connection or permanent connection is made to the segment 3, while the contacts25 and 26 areconnected to theslow button and to'the stop but ton, respectively, ofthe conventional manual control buttons of rotary printing presses. Thus, in Figure 2, I have illustrated diagrammatically the three control buttons, to wit, the start button 27, the slow button 28 and the stop button 29 which may be connected on one side to a common feeder line 30 and which are connected on the other side to control lines 31, 32 and 33 respectively, leading to the different relay coils or other actuating portions of the relay switch (not shown) through which the power to the motor is ultimately controlled. I r

By suitably adjusting the disc 4, and hence, the contact segment 3 upon the shaft 5 by means of the set screw 13, the contact segment 3 may be caused to contact the slow contact 25, when the follower end or the roller 19 of the lever 14 has approached the core 34 of the paper roll 18, to a sufiicient extent. This causes the machine to slow down, that is, to run at its slow speed. Thereafte gthe segment 3 contacts the stop contact 26 and completely shuts the machine; By providing both a slow contact (25) as well 'as a stop con-' tact (26), a'more accurate control may be had becausethe"drift--of the machine is reduced to a negligibleminimum, by first slowing down the machine andrunning it at a slow speed towards the desired end-point, and then finally stopping it substantially at the desired end-point, that is, at a point where but a relativelyfew turns of paper are left on the core 34. Thereupon, the weight 23-is removed so as to permit the lever to drop-and the'core 34 is removed from the expander or' shaft 35, and afresh roll of paper placed upon said shaft. Thereupon, the weight (or spring) is again applied so as to place the'lever 14 in operative relation to the roll.

'While in the particular illustration, I have shown the lever contacting the roll from beneath, I m'ay arrange or so dispose the various elements that the lever will contact the roll from above or from either side, or at any point around its periphery F I am aware that my invention may be embodied in other specific forms without departing from the spirit or essential attributes'thereof, and I therefore desire the present embodiment to be considered in all respects as illustrative and not restrictive, reference being had to the appended claims rather thanto the foregoing description to indicate the scope of the invention. I-Iaving thus described-my invention, what I hereby claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is:

i 1. Printing press control for printing presses having a roll of paper supply rotatably mounted upon a suitable spindle, and having a core on which said paper is wound, and having relayswitch controlled electric motor for starting and stopping the press, including a follower member yieldably maintained in contact'with the periphery of the paper roll with suitable force, a movable electrical contact element actuated by said follower member, and two spaced and generally stationary contact elements disposed in operative relation to said movable contact element, and adaptedto'be contacted thereby in succession, when the follower member has moved generally in 'the direction of the paper roll to the desired extent, said electrical contact elements forming part of two electrical circuits capable of supplying an actuating current to the coils of the relay switch of the printing press to slowdown and to stop the printing press.

[2. Printing press control for printingpres'ses having a roll of paper supply rotatably mounted upon a suitable spindle, and having a. core on which said paper is wound, and having relayswitch controlled electric motor for starting and stopping the press, including a follower member yieldably maintained in contact with the periphery of the paper roll with suitable force, a movable electrical contact element actuated by said follower member, two spaced and generally stationary contact elements disposed in operative relation to said movable contact element, and adapted to be contacted thereby in succession, when the follower member has moved generally in the direction of the paper roll to the desired extent, said electrical contact elements forming part of two electrical circuits capable of supplying an actuating current to the coils of the relay switch of the printing press to slowdown and to stop the printing press, and means for adjustmg the movable contact element in relation to the follower member.

3. Printing press control for printing presses having a roll of paper supply rotatably mounted upon a suitable spindle, and. having a core on which the paper is wound, and having relayswitch controlled electric motor, including a follower member yieldably maintained in contact with the periphery of the paper roll, and electrical means operatively connected with said relayswitch and operable by said follower member for first slowing down the printing press and thereafter stopping the printing press as the follower member approaches the core.

JOHN SINTON. 

